Botallack Birds

Posted here are a few of today's bird portraits taken around Botallack

Male Stonechat

Female Heron Gull and chicks

Great Tit predating on Caterpillar

Black back Gull with chicks

Raven with chicks

Female Peregrine

Pair of Cornish Chough

Yesterday's mixed bag

My day started well with a nice fly-by from a female Sparrowhawk in the morning sunlight.

A cheeky little Stonechat ,  A meadow pipit and a hunting kestrel kept me company while waiting for Short-eared Owls

The first Shortie that I saw landed in the rough grass quite close to me.  It had seen me before landing and kept an eye on me while completing a full body preen and when it eventually left it flew straight down my lens checking me out in a very casual manner.

Come the evening I had a couple of first year Marine & Wildlife students arrive at my home for a night shoot on Fox and Badger in a set that I have constructed in my back garden.   

On their arrival we discussed their requirements.  I explained the likely procedure of the encounter before us and we came up with a remote shutter controlled photographic coarse of action to achieve their goal.

Ewan and Conner proved to be very well mannered intelligent and inquisitive guys that were very dedicated to their course project and I had a very pleasant evening discussing various aspects of wildlife photography with them as we waited for our subjects to arrive on set.

We spent around four hours on this project and the guys went away with both the fox and the Badger in the can,    I have posted my take on their results below :

It was good for me to meet and work with these fine like-minded young guys and I am pleased to show this brief portfolio of what they achieved and I wish them well with their three year degree at Falmouth.

Early Flights at Marazion Marsh

A dramatic sunrise and light northerly winds were the order of the day at Marazion Marsh this morning and all the local celebrities seemed to be up on the wing.

The Kestrel was the first bird to show as the sun rose over the hills of Marazion.

The Marsh Buzzard came along and obligingly perched on a post just five metres from the boundary wall and then treated me to one of its low flying take-offs

Even the Female Stonechat  above provided a comical aerial display and a Juvenile Grey Heron finished me off with a classic off the water take-off.

PM at Marazion Marsh Today

It was a nice afternoon so I made my second visit of the day to Marazion Marsh, still looking for my first illusive Bittern image of the winter,  No show!   but I amused myself with a few of the locals while waiting, first off, our pair of resident Mute Swans have a very close bond to the extent that from this camera angle they looked like a two headed monster.

The Snipe spend little time on the marsh margins where they are always in danger from the local Sparrowhawk but this one decided to run the gauntlet for long enough for me to rattle off a few shots.

The resident Stonechat are quite laid back and show little fear of birders and photographers that come and go along the road boundary wall,  This male that was busy feeding on flying insects while giving me the opportunity for a few more take-off images,  It got closer and closer until my camera angle was obscured by the wall so I shinned up onto it and captured this very close sequence which I have montaged and posted below.

I turned to get down only to see a very close rabbit that was alarmed by my stance on the wall and not looking to pleased with my performance,   I just had time to captured his reaction before he was gone.

Marazion Marsh Wildlife

I took advantage of a calm wind free morning to check out the wildlife along the front of Marazion Marsh,  A young Heron was foraging through recently cut reeds for just about anything that moved, A gaggle of six Little Egrets had set up preening parlour just off of the water's edge which created some interesting reflections, A young swan hurried by looking out for the adult birds, One of the ever present Stonechats stopped to give me the once over,  A pair of the warrens rabbits looked intent on starting another litter and the only non resident a late migrating Wheatear put on a great show on how to catch all manner of flying insects from which I created I montage of its activities in the last image posted